


The chance of something new

by RedBlackOwl (Shaylayn)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Hopeful Ending, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25098067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaylayn/pseuds/RedBlackOwl
Summary: Finding ones soulmate in the middle of a battlefield, and in the enemy clan, is never a good way to start with.
Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Comments: 20
Kudos: 469





	The chance of something new

**Author's Note:**

> I still struggle with oneshots... I always think that they are to short and there needs to be more... ugh
> 
> Anyway this is my first try at a soulmate fic I hope you like it! 
> 
> (Also titles are bullshit, I can never think of anything...)

It all starts on a battlefield. 

There is a yell, an angry shout and Izuna’s eyes grow huge in front of him. They are the only signs for the disaster that is about to happen. 

Tobirama doesn’t have time to react. It may be embarrassing to admit, but by the time he realises that something is wrong, it is already to late. 

He starts turning into the direction his brother and Madara are fighting, but only manages a slight twitch, before Madara crashes into him with all the force Tobirama knows his brother is cable of putting behind his attacks. 

They go down in a tangle of limbs and Madara’s angry shouting. 

Tobirama is not too proud to admit to himself that he may have let out a surprised squeak. No one else has heard it over Madara’s shrieking shouts anyway.

Madara flails on top of him, shouting angry threats of bodily harm in Hashirama’s direction, while Tobirama just tries to get out from under his brother’s once best friend before Madara realises that he is in the best position to kill Tobirama and end the greatest threat to his own brother’s life. 

But Madara is heavy, all solid muscle and massive mane of hair, and he is not helping Tobirama getting free in the slightest. 

There may be a little bit of panic involved, when he starts to try and get a handful of Madara’s hair to get the other to move off. He can’t really reconstruct later how it happens. They are both wearing long sleeved shirts under their armor, Madara is wearing his gloves like always, their faces are not in anyway close to each other as are their feet only covered by sandals.

But somehow their skin touches, somehow in their tussel they manage to bare a small stripe of skin somewhere on their bodies and have them touch. 

There is a shift, a sudden burst of clarity Tobirama knows well and then nature rejoices. Erupting in light and life and bright, migraine inducting colours. Tobirama knows what it means, has seen and felt it everytime two soulmates have found each other anywhere near him. 

Madara’s loud cursing brings him out of the tight grip the world has on him and he feels the man’s heavy weight finally move off of him. 

He immediately scrambles to his feet, turning to face the Uchiha Clan Head, his soulmate, cradling his left arm, burning with the surfacing soulmark, to his chest. 

Izuna seems to have shaken himself out of whatever stupor has prevented him from intervening before and has rushed to his brothers side, kneeling beside him and clearly talking to him. But Tobirama is to focused on his soulmate to care for what it is. 

Madara clawes his hair out of his face, sneering angrily, and pushes Izuna away a little before he grips the sleeve of his own left arm and wrenches the fabric up and out of the way in such a violent manner, Tobirama is surprised that is doesn’t just tear of.

All thoughts flee him however when he sees the soulmark rising to the the surface. A pair of dragons, one water and one fire, twining around each other and Madara’s arm. The mark extents all the way up to Madara’s elbow and probably even higher but the rest is hidden by the sleeve. 

It is not necessary to see the entire mark to know what is happening and to realise who exactly the dragons are supposed to represent. 

Both Madara and Izuna drag their eyes away from the mark on the formers arm to look up at Tobirama with identical expressions of disbelief. 

He stops himself from flinching away from the look, hurt bubbling up in his chest despite knowing that he shouldn’t be surprised. They are his enemies after all, they are hardly going to cry of joy. 

Still, he can’t help and feel hurt and disappointed. After so many in his clan had told him that he doesn’t have a soulmate, that someone like him can’t have a match out there, he finally finds out that he  _ does  _ have a soulmate after all, and he is an enemy that hates him.

Hashirama rushes over to his brothers side, before either of the Uchiha brothers can say anything. 

“Tobi!”, Hashirama cries distressed, already making a grab for Tobirama’s arm, clearly thinking that he is hurt in someway. 

Wrenching it away from his brothers hands, Tobirama hisses: “Anija, don’t!”

“But…!”, Hashirama starts, looking over at the Uchiha brothers in confusion. He notices their wide eyed staring and the still not fully settled soulmark on Madara’s arms and whips back towards Tobirama with his own set of wide eyes. For all that Hashirama can be a bumbling idiot with his heads in the clouds, he is not actually stupid, he knows exactly what has happened and when he makes another grab for Tobirama’s arm, Tobirama does not stop him.

Hashirama is gentle as he carefully pushes the fabric out of the way, mindful of the terrible pain a growing soulmark causes. 

Tobirama doesn’t need to see the mark on his own arm to know that it will match Madara’s down to the last detail. He can hear Hashirama making a distressed noise beside him: “Tobi…”

He doesn’t look at his older brother, not needing to see the sympathie in his eyes. Hashirama has always been the loudest voice in defence for Tobirama. Arguing with anyone stupid enough to say that Tobirama does not have a soulmate where he could hear. Promising a young Tobirama that he has a soulmate and when he finds them, they will want and love him, how could they not?

Hashirama rarely breaks a promise, but Tobirama has always known that this is one that he would not be able to keep, even if he has hoped that Hashirama would be right.

Around them the battlefield has grown quiet. The rest of their clan members having caught on that something has happened, even if not what exactly. 

Vaguely Tobirama can feel Tōka rushing over, probably to check on him, but he can’t put to much thought in the possibility of his cousin seeing the mark and most likely not reacting favorably. There are tears in his brothers eyes, real ones even, not the crocodile tears his brother uses to get people to do what he wants so he stops crying all over them. 

Hashirama sends another look over to the Uchiha brothers, who have now risen to their feet as well. Izuna is hovering in front of his brother a conflicted expression on his face, while Madara tries to drag him back beside him with just one hand. His left arm tucked close to his body, near useless as it is with the mark still settling.

But then Hashirama turns back to Tobirama, curling a hand around his right upper arm and shouting the order for a retreat to the rest of their clan. Tobirama can feel Tōka’s hand landing on his shoulder, can hear her voice speaking to him as they turn to head home, asking him what has happened. 

He tells her quietly with Hashirama interjecting when he stumbles over admitting that Madara is apparently his soulmate, informing their cousin of it instead. 

Tōka curses loudly, wishing the Uchiha all kinds of bad things for making their life complicate once more. 

\---

Sitting at his kitchen table, Madara stares at the soulmark on his arm with mixed feelings. 

On one hand he should be ecstatic. Every Uchiha dreams of finding their soulmate and whenever one does, the entire clan gathers together to celebrate the joyous occasion. 

It should be like this for Madara too. He should be happy, he should celebrate finding his soulmate with his clan and make plans to court his soulmate and hopefully win them over and bring them into the clan as is tradition. 

But on the other hand, and that is the problem, his soulmate is Senju Tobirama and there is no joy to be found in this. 

It is not just because they are at war, but because Madara can’t believe that the White Demon of the Senju would be in anyway accepting of their connection. 

Madara doesn’t even know what he could have done to be bound to such an emotionless monster. 

Much more important however is how he is going to deal with this. The bond has been established, it existed, it is  _ there _ and it will not go away just because he would rather ignore it for the rest of his life. 

There has been many instances of people, not just in the Uchiha clan but in others as well, going mad with grief over the violent death of their soulmate. There is a reason after all why most people actively tried to prevent themselves from finding their soulmate. 

Now Madara has found his and there is a great chance that his own brother will be the reason he will lose his mind. No one else would ever be powerful enough to stop Senju Tobirama and despite everything, Madara can’t see himself being able to kill his own soulmate. 

Heaving a deep sigh, Madara lets his arm fall down on the table top, carding the fingers of his other hand through his hair. 

He needed to come to an decision about this. The clan needed answers about how they would proceed. They needed to know if Izuna would take over as clan head in the future once Tobirama dies one way or another. Or if Madara is going to sacrifice himself in order to take out one of the greatest threats to their clan. 

If Madara dies gruesomely in a battle, not even someone as cold as Tobirama would be able to escape the madness and his clan, maybe even Hashirama, would be forced to put him down like a rabid dog. 

If it wouldn’t leave Hashirama unchecked and if he could predict without fault how Hashirama would react to his last brothers death, especially in such a way, then he would do it with regret but for his clan in a heartbeat. 

The sound of the front door opening and closing pulls Madara out of his dark thoughts. He waits for Izuna to come to him into the kitchen, hopefully giving him a little insight of what their clan is thinking on the matter of his soulmate. 

“I’m back”, Izuna says needlessly as he steps into the kitchen, taking one look at Madara before making his way over to the stove to put one a kettle of water for tea. 

They wait in silence for the water to boil. Izuna preparing two mugs of Madara’s favorite tea and carrying them over to the table. Sliding one of the mugs over to his brother, Izuna settles himself in the chair in front of Madara.

For a moment they just sit there, drinking their tea, both of them caught up in their own thoughts. 

Then Izuna puts his mug down and says: “So, I talked with the elders.”

“And what do they say? Do they demand me sacrificing myself for the good of the clan?”

“Actually no, they are rather unsure how to proceed now. It seems as if no one has ever thought is possible for an Uchiha to have an soulbond with a Senju. Which is kind of dumb, fate has never seemed to favor anyone, so to think that it would never bind an Uchiha and a Senju together is quite… optimistic.”

Madara snorts into his tea.

“There are a few”, Izuna continues, “that now wonder how many Uchiha never found their soulmate because we are at war and their other half is part of our greatest enemy.”

“I kind of can’t really believe that this occurs to them only know.”

“They are just idiots”, Izuna says, waving one of his hands dismissively, “Those that have always been on your side on the argument of peace are very smug about the other’s sudden realisation.”

“And you?”

“Huh?”

“What are you thinking of all this?”, resting his head in one of his hands, Madara looks at his brother with a frown on his face, “you have always been one of the loudest voices against peace.”

“Because you can’t trust them!”, Izuna snaps, then he sighs. “Like I said, I have talked with the elders and we have decided, that if the Senju are willing to meet for peace talks we will be ready.”

Sitting up in surprise, his eyes wide, Madara stares at his brother for any sign that Izuna may not means what he says. When can’t find anything but sincerity, he asks: “What? But why…”

“Because I want you to  _ live!  _ And you are not the only one who can go on a suicide mission to take out one of the greatest threats to your clan. What if Tobirama thinks it would be best if he gets himself killed to take you out? I wouldn’t put it past him to do that.”

“Hashirama wouldn’t let that happen…”

Huffing Izuna rolls his eyes: “I doubt that he would be able to stop Tobirama from taking you down if he has the possibility to do so.”

“And peace will be different?”   


“Of course! The demon will never hurt his brother like that if it isn’t necessary! And during peace it isn’t necessary because you won’t be a threat to them anymore! But now? When we are at war? Then yes I am pretty sure he will do it!”

Madara sighs and looks down into his tea. Deflating Izuna looks at his brother with sympathy: “I really would have wished for you to find your soulmate in our clan or at least in one that we are allied with and I would have wished for you to be able to be happy with your soulmate. But it is not how it is and now my only goal is to make sure you at least stay alive and that it doesn’t have to be me who puts you down.”

Madara sighs again and then shakes his head: “I wish it were different too. But it can’t be helped. So thank you Izuna, really.”

Izuna just grins at his brother and nods: “Then let's start with this peace business.”

\---

Sitting in the living room of the house he shares with his brother and sister-in-law, Tobirama stares at the soulmark on his arm that lies outstretched in front of him on the table. His other hand is curled around a cup of tea Mito has made for him after Hashirama has pushed Tobirama down in front of the table and filled his wife in with what happened. Then he had ran of, possibility to go deal with the elders and their reaction. Which will probably not be pretty. 

Sighing Tobirama rises his hand and cards it through his hair, wondering what he should to now. What the Uchiha, what  _ Madara,  _ will do now. 

He kind of doubts that Madara is going to go on a suicide mission to kill himself in an effective way to eliminate Tobirama and the threat he poses to the Uchiha at large and Izuna specifically. While it is a common practice to do when one discovers their soulmate in an enemy, Madara isn’t some random shinobi. He isn’t disposable. He is the only answer the Uchiha have against Hashirama, so they will hardly let him go of and get himself killed. 

It does not however mean that  _ Tobirama’s  _ elders won’t want him to do it to get rid of Madara. Tobirama had faith in his brother, that he will not allow it and frighten the elders into submission if need be, but there will be many who will subtly try to make Tobirama believe that it is his duty to the clan. 

Tobirama has never been someone who is overly interested in other peoples terribly obvious ways of getting him to do what they want, so he isn’t worried about that. He will never do this to Hashirama. He will not take two of his older brothers most precious people from him. Not again, not so finally. 

“Do you want to talk?”, Mito asks him. She is sitting on the other side of the table, watching him and silently drinking her tea. It is the first time that she has spoken up since she had settled in front of him on Hashirama’s plead. 

“What is there to talk about?”, he asks her. “It is not as if I can do anything about it. Madara and I are enemies. That will not suddenly stop. He also hates me, so even if there were a chance, it would still not be possible.”

“You shouldn’t say that. Aren’t you normally of the conviction that there is no such thing as the impossible?”

Tobirama huffs, a smile tugging at his lips. Mito is correct of course, he does believe that. It seems through that he has been wrong about it. 

“Even if there is a possibility for us to get close, there is still the war going on and considering the Uchiha’s stance on the matter, it will most likely not change in the near future. So it is futile to think about what could be.”

Mito gives him a look, but before she can say anything else, Hashirama burst into the room, waving a scroll in the air and beaming brightly: “The Uchiha have send a request for a ceasefire and possible talks for peace!”

“What!”, Tobirama gaps at his brother who lets himself drop down between his brother and wife, putting the scroll on the table. Across from him Mito is trying, and failing, to hide her smile in her teacup. 

“Peace, Tobi! I just got this. It is from Madara. It is all very formal, but I’m sure it is because you two are soulmates!”

Tobirama sighs: “Anija. I doubt that it is so easy. It could simply be them trying to prevent me from going and getting their clan head killed.”

Hashirama looks affronted: “You would never do something like that!”

“But they do not know that, don’t they?”, Mito interjects, causing both brothers so look at her. “Tobirama’s reputation is not really the best.  _ We _ know that Tobirama would never do it. But the Uchiha don’t. It is possible that they are just waiting for Madara to snap, or for Tobirama to just crash into their territory to take out as many Uchiha as he can before they are forced to kill him and with it doom their clan head. Do not be foolish husband, this will not be in anyway easy.”

Clearly Hashirama is not happy with this fact. He pouts, than snatches Tobirama’s tea cup from him like the child he still is and tacks a deep drink from the nearly cold tea. 

“It’s not like Madara’s reputation as a screaming madman is so much better.”

“No”, Mito says with a smile on her face “It is not. But it is easy to forget. The Uchiha likely know of Madara’s reputation, but they also know him privately, outside of the battlefield. They know Tobirama only from the battlefield and whatever stories they hear. Just like the Senju and any other clan at odds with the Uchiha does not think of Madara as anything else as a madman, they do not think of Tobirama as anything else as a demon.”

Looking forlornly into his stolen cup Hashirama sighs: “I just want Tobi to be happy and to have his soulmate.”   


“And we know that.”

In the meanwhile Tobirama had taken the scroll with the request for a ceasefire and unrolled it, carefully reading through its contents for any foul play. There does not seem to be any. It seems as if the Uchiha truly want this.

Not overly surprising. This is supposed to protect their clan head after all. Not even Izuna will oppose it this time. He will never put his older brother in any kind of danger. 

Ruthlessly Tobirama squashes any hope that dares to rear its head. Just because the Uchiha want peace now does not mean that he and Madara will ever be anything more to each other than two people who just happen to be bound together by fate, and by Hashirama. Once peace is made between their clans, Madara and Hashirama will most likely take up their friendship again. 

Gritting his teeth at the sudden surge of jealousy, Tobirama calls himself a fool. It's not Hashirama’s fault that his little brother's soulbond will be a failure. It's not Hashirama’s fault that he and Madara had been friends as children and will be again with peace. 

“So, is it genuine then?”, Hashirama asks, his eyes wide and hopeful. 

“Yes”, Tobirama answers and pushes the scroll over to Mito for her to look through on her own. She puts her cup down and picks the scroll up to read, while Tobirama looks at his brother. 

“It is just a ceasefire, but it is clear that the Uchiha are open for peace talks. They do reference Madara’s soulbond with me so it is safe to assume that it is the only reason why they have reconsidered their stance on peace.”

“You are probably right. It would be to much of a miracle to have the Uchiha collectively change their mind, even without the bond. However it doesn’t matter why they have changed their mind. They  _ have,  _ it is more than we had yesterday.”

Tobirama smiles slightly at how visibly excited Hashirama is about the prospect of peace and the possibility of his dream finally coming true. Tobirama can’t fault him, he has always hoped that Madara would come to his senses and accept Hashirama’s hand to finally end the needless fighting. 

It is just unfortunate that it is Tobirama’s soulbond that caused it and not Madara genuinely wanting to. He hopes that Hashirama will not let himself be blinded by it. That he will remember that it will not be easy. 

“I’m happy for you”, he tells his older brother and it is true, he is happy. A failing soulbond will not change that. It is not really any different from what he has always know, even when he may has hoped differently. 

Hashirama beams at him with one of those wide and bright smiles. Then he reaches one of his hands towards Tobirama and curls it around his shoulder. 

“I will do my very best to ensure that this peace comes to pass. Neither of us knows how it will go between you and Madara. Maybe the two of you will never become anything more, maybe you  _ will. _ But however this goes, I will make sure you have the chance to find out.”

\---

The peace talks do actually happen. Tobirama is not as surprised as he may should have been. And just as unsurprisingly as them happening, they are also an absolute disaster. 

It is very clear that the Uchiha are only there because of their clan leaders soulbond to a Senju and the danger such a soulbond posses. 

Izuna has been, predictably, the most antagonistic one, even if he has been good at hiding it. He has constantly glared at Tobirama and has made many snide remarks aimed to cause a reaction. 

Tobirama however has always been good at keeping a neutral face in any situation so he has not at all been faced by Izuna’s underhand tactics. He may also has been a little insulted. Not one of the insults were new, Tobirama has all heard them at one point before, some of them even from his own clan members. That Izuna couldn’t even think of anything more innovative did offend him in a ridiculously childish manner.

Fortunately for everyone involved and the peace that did not exist yet, Hashirama is actually very good at being professional when it’s about something that he is interested in. So he has not tried to end Izuna’s existence in Tobirama’s defence. 

It took many meetings and arguments about all the little details the thearty needed to include to make it fair for anyone. So that the war may not break out again because one side thought they were getting the short end of the deal.

It happens during the last meeting of the talks, when the treaty is supposed to be signed by all the necessary people, that Madara approaches Tobirama for the first time. 

After one last readthrough by both parties to ensure there is no trickery and the following signing and before they all make their way back to their compound, Madara marches up to a surprised Tobirama and demands: “We need to talk.”

Tobirama supposes that it really is necessary for them to at least talk once to make sure that they do understand each other and what they should or should not expect to happen now. 

They are soulmates after all, if they want it or not. They need to find common ground if they don’t want to make this worse that it already is. 

So Tobirama just nods and follows Madara a little away from the table that had been the center of the talks from the first meeting. Tobirama is certain that the Nara clan head will be happy having it back. 

When they are far enough away to be no longer in hearing range, but still in sight of their brothers and clan members, Madara stops and spins around eying Tobirama critically. 

Tobirama himself would have prefered a little more privacy, but he understands why it is better to not leave the sight of their clans. 

“So”, Madara says, crossing his arms in front of his chest and puffing himself out like a rooster, probably to compensate for their high difference. Tobirama has to fight his amusement from showing on his face. 

“So?”, he asks, when Madara doesn’t continue. He tilts his head to the side waiting for Madara to keep going. 

The other bristles and snaps: “We are soulmates!”

“Yes? I’m aware of that?”

“The Uchiha value soulmate above all else. We would never get in between a soulmate pair if they choose to wed. We will do anything to ensure that an Uchiha can be with their soulmate if they are from outside of the clan. Therefore a lot of people, Izuna included, want to know what to expect from us. We have peace to make sure that you will not try to get me killed and before the talks, I thought that was all I could hope for.” 

Madara has turned his head away, there is blush rising to on his face. Tobirama blinks: “Oh?”

Giving him a nasty look, Madara grabs the hem of his left sleeve and pulls it up revealing his soulmark, identical down to the last detail with Tobirama’s own, hidden under the sleeve of his black shirt. 

Tobirama has always been careful to keep it hidden. At first because of the painful reminder of what he couldn’t have and then to keep too much hope from rising that maybe he and Madara could have some kind of relationship, platonically or romantically.

Now he looks at the mark on Madara’s arm. Just like Tobirama’s own arm, it is nearly completely covered by the two dragons. They were not just simply dragons colored red and blue, but actually made out of water and fire. Dancing around each other and Madara’s (and Tobirama’s) arm all the way up to their shoulders. He knows that their heads are turned towards each other right at the place where arm meets shoulder, he knows that their eyes are in the opposites color. 

Because of the sheer size of their mark Madara is unable to uncover it fully. Their soulmark is unusually large, the only other soulmark of such a size Tobirama has ever seen has been Hashirama’s, covering his entire leg. A great sturdy oak with swirling water where the leaves should be. 

“This has to mean something”, Madara says, glaring down at his soulmark. “I have never seen or heard of such a large soulmark. I have wondered why I have such an unusually big mark when I thought that there could never be anything but hate between us. When I thought that you will never want peace and will only accept it because Hashirama orders it. That you would gladly see every Uchiha death.”

Looking back up at Tobirama, Madara continues: “But now… I have seen you during the talkings. I know that you are the one who writes any new version of the treaties, I have seen you come up with compromises whenever our interest clashed. Compromises both sides could accept and be happy with. You have taken all suggestions seriously, not the dumb ones obviously, but the genuine ones. Not dismissing them just because it has been the Uchiha who have brought them up.”

Trying to get his heart to calm down again and hope and thoughts of possibilities from rising, Tobirama asks: “And that means?”

“It means that I’m interested. It seems to me that I have only know that battlefield persona of you. And I am mad at myself for never considering that you could be different away from the battlefield.”

“Dehumanizing the enemy is a common tactic and has been deeply ingrained in both our clans for the last centuries. People have always held the enemy to different standards. You shouldn’t feel bad about it.”

“Bullshit!”, Madara snaps. “I know what people think of me and I know that they only see what I want them to see and I’m not like most of my clan. I have never hated the Senju on principle alone. I have always asked questions of why. And I still haven’t been able to see past what you want the world to see and realize that there is more to find under it all.”

“Madara…”

“No, I have been an idiot. I can’t predict how this will go, maybe there will really never be anything of significance between us. But… I would be willing to find out. If it is acceptable for you.”

Tobirama can’t do anything but stare at Madara, at his soulmate who he thought he could never hope to have. Who he thought hated him and would never not. 

Letting a smile curve his lips, for the first time he lets the hopes inside him rise. Maybe this will not work out or maybe they will be lucky. But he will have the chance to find out and that is more than he dared hope for.

“I… would like that.”


End file.
